


Anzu's Peer-Review Club

by NescitOccasum



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Poetry, anzu starts her own peer review club, collection of poems by enstars boys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-03 23:47:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12758763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NescitOccasum/pseuds/NescitOccasum
Summary: Anzu's been wanting to join a club for a while. The only problem is, she wants to spend time with everyone! After a lyrics-writing assignment and a discussion with Kunugi-sensei, she comes up with a brand new club that anyone can visit any time. Welcome to Anzu's peer-review club, where students can post poems and lyrics for some friendly feedback ♪"Chapters" will be individual poems written by different Enstars characters followed by some quick thoughts on what kinds of literary style I think each boy might have.Feel free to leave actual peer-reviews or even try writing your own in-character poems! Requests for characters or prompts are totally welcome too~ Let's all have fun with it ♪





	1. Prologue

“Just… a little… bit… higher…!”

Anzu had tried standing on her tiptoes and searched the empty hall for a stool. She had tried taping a tack to a meterstick, but couldn’t get it unstuck, pulling the poster she pinned up right back off the bulletin board. Now, for lack of any other ideas, she was jumping up and down attempting to somehow smack it into the small window of open space in the top left corner.

“…Anzu?”

She jumped again, this time out of surprise. Her case of tacks slipped from her hand, scattering a rainbow of pins across the floor.

“H- Hokuto!” she gasped out, wheeling around to face the speaker. “You caught me off guard there. Did you need help with something?”

Hokuto cocked his head.

“Not particularly. It looks as though you could use some help though,” he laughed, bending over to retrieve the tacks.

Feeling her ears going red, Anzu dropped down to help him.

“Sorry about these. I was just about to grab the samples for Trickstar’s next outfit and head to practice, but I figured I’d get this posted before other students start heading home.”

Hokuto straightened himself out with a soft “hmm,” reaching a hand down to Anzu.

“I’ll put it up for you, and then we can go together. How’s that sound?”

“Perfect ♪” she replied, offering the poster up to him as she stood herself.

Hokuto looked at her with a confused frown, then took the extended poster with a sigh.

“Is here okay?” he asked, holding it up to the empty corner tentatively.

“Yup! Thanks for the help, Hokuto. I was starting to think I’d have to go ask someone in the staff room to post it for me.”

Pinning the colorful page in place, Hokuto read the handwritten pop out loud.

“Let’s see… ‘Wondering how to make your lyrics sound better? Let’s all practice writing poetry together!’…? What’s this for?”

Anzu beamed, excitedly balling her hands up in front of her chest.

“Remember how everyone had to write lyrics to a short song for Kunugi-sensei’s class?”

Hokuto nodded.

“Akehoshi forgot to do the assignment and wrote ‘kira kira kira kira’ for the whole thing while Kunugi-sensei took role.”

Anzu giggled.

“Yeah, I saw that too! Anyways, Sensei and I were talking, and we decided it’d be good practice for everyone to try writing and sharing some poetry. It’s surprisingly hard expressing yourself in so few words, isn’t it?”

Hokuto nodded as Anzu continued.

“Like it says on the poster, we’re going to make a little display corner in the first floor passage. People can leave their poems out, and then anyone passing by can read them and write reviews on little comment cards. That way, people can get feedback from all sorts of points of view!”

“Oh?”

“Yup! After all this time, I still haven’t joined a club yet even though I’m kind of supposed to. No one’s really said anything about it, but…” Anzu blushed. “I thought maybe a casual peer review club anyone could use anytime would be fun.”

Hokuto looked thoughtfully up at the poster, then turned back to Anzu with a soft smile.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea. I read a lot of poetry in the drama club, but I haven’t really written too much myself outside of class. I’ll try putting something together tonight. Would you mind being my first reader?”

Anzu’s eyes lit up instantly. She grabbed Hokuto’s hands, shaking them happily up and down with a bubbly smile.

“I’d love to! I can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with!”

Hokuto squeezed down on Anzu’s hands gently with a laugh.

“Ahaha, I’ll do my best, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I worried a little about posting this since it's pretty different from usual fics, but I really hope you'll enjoy it ♪
> 
> After playing Doki Doki Literature Club, I got really nostalgic about all the years and years I spent in different literature and poetry clubs, especially the one I started and ran myself in school! 
> 
> While looking through a bunch of my old poems, I thought, 'what if I wrote poems from the perspectives of enstars characters?' It seemed like a really great way to challenge myself with writing styles I don't normally use, so here we are. Let's gooo~!


	2. Poem 1 - "Quiet Morning" by Hokuto Hidaka

**Quiet Morning**  
  
One morning,  
she forgot the tea.  
  
I did not know then,  
but my alarm was set  
to p.m.  
  
My dreams were quiet,  
as her kitchen was.  
  
She left the water,  
bubbles yet to boil,  
quiet in the kettle  
  
and tiptoed to my room.  
  
That day,  
my alarm was her gentle voice.  
  
Her gentle voice  
and the tin whistle  
of her kettle.  
  
the warm steam lifting  
like the soft curtains she opened  
to the sunny 7:12 window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a top student and a member of the drama club, I’m sure Hokuto would be well-versed in more florid styles of poetry than this. That being said, I think he would be confident enough to write in a simpler, homely style, which can be pretty daunting!
> 
> He has a lot of respect for his elders, and I think the works of the poet Shibata Toyo would really appeal to him. I could definitely see his grandparents having a copy of _Kujikenaide_ lying around on a coffee table somewhere along with the sorts of odd miscellaneous bedtime readers grandparents somehow collect so many of.
> 
> In Hokuto’s poem, I shot for a form somewhat reminiscent of Shibata’s, and had it tell a story about his grandmother. I wanted the poem to be blunt, but still warm and reassuring, just like him ♪


	3. Poem 2 - "concomitant" by Mika Kagehira

**concomitant**  
  
fairest glossaire  
lambent glen  
senescent   
klavier clove  
  
pallas chalice   
parle nacre   
twill hie dyad home  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve lived in a number of different countries, and one of the places I stayed a long time in was Kansai. Spending time in Kantou after that, on occasion I’d think how strange it was that our words could be so similar and yet so distinct. Like becoming conscious of my blinking or remembering that I breathe, I noticed more and more little things like changes in intonation. It may be insignificant, but I like to think those little peculiarities of our words tell stories of who we are, where we’ve been, and the speakers we aspire to. 
> 
> As someone whose dialect is so very pronounced (or rather exaggerated), I think Mika might sometimes feel like he’s in a world of words different from his own – especially with the ever-extravagant Shu and bookwormish Tsumugi as role models! There’s something charming about clumsily stringing together complicated words, and it’s definitely a style many inexperienced poets adopt. I think Mika’s much sharper than he gives himself credit for, and with a little time, would develop a very formidable vocabulary from all the hard work he puts into Valkyrie. 
> 
> As a poet and lyricist, I think Mika would be the type to write by flipping through a dictionary and picking words he liked the sounds of. He doesn’t seem like the type to fuss over meter, and I think the slightly off-balance melody of slant rhymes and uneven assonance would suit him.


	4. Poem 3 - "Little Teas" by Hajime Shino

**Little Teas**  
  
Fey bouquets in pink gilt cups  
A sweet rooibos ballet  
Rose diffused from petals strewn  
From sugar-laden spoons  
  
A hint of mint in citrine brew  
The sharp, the cool, the tint  
Of marine hues from teacups blue  
Reflected in ice cubes   
  
Orange slices and spices in honeyed mugs  
Maybe apple, cinnamon, cloves  
Taste-test with you for flavor clues  
Something borrowed and something new  
  
Snow white pure lights in sweet vanilla   
Red cheeks in Ceylon tonight  
With piano tunes and prancing hooves  
Wide awake though I should sleep soon  
  
You pour one more with a laugh  
“Me too”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Hajime, I thought a cute, musicy little poem would be nice. I think he’d use a simple structure, and do his best to make things rhyme to sound more lyric-like. Hajime seems like the type to write something easy to understand about things and people he likes.
> 
> Did you notice each verse implies there’s more than one person drinking the tea? They all hint at different groups and people Hajime loves. Can you guess which is who? ♪


	5. Poem 4 - "no title" by Ritsu Sakuma

**no title**  
  
I don’t need  
the scissors you left  
I don’t need them to open  
the ring binder still in its plastic  
  
I don’t need  
the old camera you replaced  
I don’t need to move  
the mouse back every time  
  
I don’t need  
the melody you liked  
I don’t need to play second  
for sheet music you left without a thought  
  
I don’t need  
the mug you left  
I don’t need the family  
you drew in first grade on the back  
  
You were right.  
I don’t need you  
because when I think of you  
there’s nothing left

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from beep: "i feel like [Ritsu] wouldn't be into it initially, but if he got praise for said poems he'd crank em out like it's nothing... or he'd write really deep almost bittersweet poems (perhaps about reiii?)"
> 
> Thank you so much for the idea! Here's my take on it ♪
> 
> I imagined Ritsu getting kinda jealous after seeing Rei having fun reading poems with Anzu. He planned to leave an anonymous message to see if Rei would actually listen to him that way without all the usual fuss. He just started writing it right there at the display board cause he didn't expect to have so much to say. I think the hardest thing to get Ritsu to do is _start_ , so once he gets going writing, he'd probably just write and write, especially cause he doesn't seem like the type to get tripped up trying to adhere to meter or rhymes.
> 
> Before he knew it, he had a really bittersweet, personal poem on his hands and no idea of what to do with it. Unlucky for him, Hajime came by just then to pick up comments on his own poem and now he can't back out. The silver lining? Hajime just so happens to be the only normal older brother in the whole school. With Hajime's advice, he manages to put his pride aside and leave this message for Rei.
> 
> Baby steps......♪
> 
> As for the topic, I guess it's like when you first start living alone and realize you don't have to keep putting the toilet seat back down for mom, you know? Like you feel like you should miss something more sentimental but it's those little daily inconveniences that really get you when they're suddenly gone.


	6. Poem 5 - "The Wild Swan" by Shu Itsuki

**The Wild Swan**  
  
Where reeds give way to rings  
        Of clover by the moors  
I stole away from Heaven  
        To faeries and their cures  
  
Send me signs in stars’ light  
        Our longest nights endure  
Send me hope in all my love of thee  
        If such could prove it sure  
  
O’ take me by the hand,  
        Or take me by the heel  
Lead me to the land of lost  
        The homeward lanes conceal  
  
Where fields give way to fir  
        And forests overgrown  
I plait unwilling nettle  
        Might I hold thine wings home  
  
Send me signs in stars’ light  
        Their faintest glow obscure  
Send me blind but for my love of thee  
        If such could prove it pure  
  
O’ take me by the heart,  
        Or take me by a whim  
Lead me to the land of lost  
        If your love I cannot win

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was definitely closer to my own natural style, so I stuffed it to the gills with Shu-ish wordplay to try and really make it his! For example, there's an ongoing motif of transition, such as in the setting that leaves the speaker lost and in double meanings like reeds (orchestral instruments) changing to rings (electronic sounds). When flowers are replaced by trees in a forest "overgrown," the speaker painstakingly weaves shirts like the heroine of "The Wild Swans" as though that'll change "thee" back to how he once was.
> 
> I could go on and on, but I think this kind of poem does better when it speaks for itself, so I'll leave you to look for meaning in it as you will ♪
> 
> P.S. Try to find which number appears in groups of three throughout the poem, and think about why it changes in the last verse!


	7. Poem 6 - "the way to your heart" by Anonymous

the way to your heart   
  
a song to the wind  
a wind to the gear  
  
a turn to the year  
  
a tape to the tear  
a tear to the burn  
  
a drop to the dear  
  
a wind to the dove  
& dove to the song  
  
to love  
  
  
  
the end ❤

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write something anonymous to see if I could still make it clear which character "wrote" it. With White Day coming up, I chose a character to write an anonymous love poem!
> 
> There are lots of things you can give someone to show how much you love them! Like roses and chocolate when you're starting to fall for them, and then your heart and someday your life when you know they're the one you wanna be with forever and ever ♪ That's why there are lots of words that are different, but match each other, like little couples ❤ 
> 
> The character really loves to loves, so I wanted the poem to have a romantic dreamer-y "they lived happily ever after, the end ❤" kinda feel to it. like even if you mess up, you can always fix it, and even if you cry a little along the way, each tear helps calm down the frustrated fire in your heart. This character is really good at that kind of stuff and getting people back up on their feet.
> 
>  
> 
> ...Also to be fair I _did_ say DDLC is what inspired me to post my poetry again, so I'm sure we all knew this kind of poem was coming sooner or later


	8. Poem 7 - "            " by Leo Tsukinaga

DON'T FORGET TO TURN THIS IN TO GLASSES BY JANUARY 26 !!!!!!!!! 

 

 

                           O O O O O  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
|||                                                                                                                     |||  
|||                  practice at 4:37 so be there or be SQUARE                                  |||  
|||-------                                                                                             ------|||   
|||             ---------------------------------------------------           |||  
|||                                                                                                                     |||  
|||                                                                                                                     |||  
|||                                                                                                                     |||  
|||                                                                                                                     |||  
  
  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           ^  that's supposed to be a kotatsu  
  
there's a lotta **~space~** under it.  good thing or suou probably wouldn't fit with you guys all in there too but it's okay cause space is really really really really really really BIIIIIG wahahAHAaHa

 

    laughing looks weird on paper do you think it'd look weird if you tried to write laughing on sheet music? There's no H note though so I'd have to make one whic WAIT that's it FUCK YOU MOZART I invented a hole new NOTE 

 

 

  
  
  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine this "poem" in very, very messy handwriting on a kinda crumpled piece of sheet music ruled paper with a weird blotch of... something? staining the bottom left corner. Leo just kinda showed up out of nowhere while Anzu's eating lunch with friends and WAHAHAHAHAs and tosses a ball of crumpled paper at them and wanders off somewhere again. 
> 
> also wanted a funny goofy poem after the last one 
> 
> yun yun ♪


	9. Poem 8 - "A Prediction" by Natsume Sakasaki

**A Prediction:**  
  
Amidst the mists of mid-November  
     Some three odd years from here,  
Betwixt the twists of ill-paved roads  
     You’ll pause. Calmly, slowly.  
  
You forget to remember the Two missed calls  
     You’d thought not to return  
Transfixed by puddles framed in Silver.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unclear and unbalanced, but not unbelievable. For Natsume, I wanted to do something prophecy-like. I tried to incorporate his very deliberate speech patterns by using vocabulary, punctuation, and capitalization in ways that would manipulate the reader's speed and emphasis. I think it came out pretty Natsume-ish!


	10. Poem 9 - "I Found A" by Rei Sakuma

I caught a glimpse, a shadow  
A flicker and footstep  


Unsure to fold or follow  
I lost him to the depths

I sought a hint, a whisper  
A glimmer of unrest  


I asked the lamppost where he went.  
The lamppost held its breath. 

I felled the stars with wishes  
Forgotten and ill-spent  


I felt the start and finish  
The lamppost quietly left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By anonymous request, here's a Rei poem! Rei was pretty hard to pick a style for. I wanted to show playful dark sexy vampire vibes, but also your rock'n'roll grandpa who's kinda weird but you love him anyways. I wanted something that had a sorta old-fashioned feel, but with a lot of poetry that means "mushy and/or singsongy" and that didn't really feel right either. I even tried writing a poem in the style of My Chemical Romance, which _still_ wasn't quite what I wanted (even if it was a funny experience).
> 
> In the end, I found inspiration for this poem in an old book of super-short stories by Inagaki Taruho I hadn't really touched since we read parts in school. Even though he wrote them in the Taisho period, they've got a really modern feel, and they kind of toe this line between dark and light and real and fantasy and idk it was the spark I needed for a sort of mysterious nighttime poem where the speaker knows more than the reader. I hope you'll like it anon!


	11. Poem 10 - "the jellyfish" by Kanata Shinkai

"the jellyfish"  
  
once upon a time,  
a happy little jellyfish lived beneath the ocean waves.  
  
the jellyfish had a long, clear hood.  
it had stripes of blue and rainbow light that jiggled when he moved.  
  
the jellyfish moved slowly.  
he flapped his tentacle arms and drifted with the current.  
  
he drifted this way.  
he drifted that way.  
  
one morning, the jellyfish drifted past a school of fish.  
a fish pointed a fin towards the jellyfish and said,  
“It’s a Jellyfish! Everyone stay away!”  
“I’ve heard Jellyfish are all very dangerous. You can never tell what they’ll do!”  
  
but the jellyfish didn’t have ears.  
he waved to his new friends,  
and then he drifted away.  
  
in the afternoon, the jellyfish drifted past a cucumber.  
the cucumber puffed its squishy spikes and said,   
“You startled all the fish!”  
“How many times do I have to tell you not to swim around the School!?”  
  
but the jellyfish didn’t have ears.  
he waved to his new friend,  
and then he drifted away.  
  
that night, the jellyfish drifted past an octopus.  
the octopus flexed its tentacles and said,  
“I’ve never seen an Octopus as pretty as you!”  
“I like your tentacles! Even in the dark, the sea is full of color and light!”  
  
but the jellyfish didn’t have ears.  
he waved to his new friend,  
and then he drifted away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Puka poem by request!
> 
> For Puka, I wanted to write something like a children's picture book where the language is simple and slow, but there's a moral to the story.
> 
> I picked a jellyfish for the main character because Puka doesn't swim, he just kinda floats around in the water. Also the aquarium's jellyfish room is space themed and idk if you watch their youtube ad for it I think you'll understand the chill alien jelly deepsea spaceworld vibes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edtxyrFh9Ow).
> 
> The type of jellyfish I visualized for Puka is bolinopsis mikado (you'll probably find better photos on google if you use their normal name though it's "カブトクラゲ"). I don't know much about marine bio, but I thought the rainbow stripes were Ryuseitai-ish!


	12. Poem 11 - "Mud" by Eichi Tenshouin

Mud  
  
I built my castle on mud  
With lies I bought my throne   
Born with all, I used nothing  
My only power my own  
  
I forged trust on flattery of angels  
Forgoing force, peacefully deceiving  
I rigged my sails, and far they flew  
Dealing, cheating, beating  
  
I built my castes in blood  
In hearts I sowed my law  
The pulse of order beating  
In doubt, in fear, in awe  
  
I foraged trust on wings beating  
Forgoing peace, I forced, beating  
I rigged my sails for flighty beating  
My only power my fleeting  
  
Beating, beating, beating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Eichi’s style, I mainly focused on structure of the poem, and used a lot of references to The Prince. I was twelve when I first read it, and it wasn’t much more than another title in a long list of classics at the time. I didn’t really understand it half as well as I’d thought, and I kind of like the idea of Eichi learning to "rule" before he was old enough to understand what that really entailed. I think a lot of the ideas outlined in the Prince fit with Eichi’s definition of order, so I’d definitely recommend giving it a skim if you ever need advice on how to be a cold, calculating antagonist lol. Some of the sections I referenced in Eichi’s poem were “He who builds on the people, builds on the mud” and “since men love at their own will and fear at the will of the prince, a wise prince must build a foundation on what is his own, and not what belongs to others.”


End file.
